Poor Lee Mazzilli. For those who don't know, Lee Mazzilli used to play for the New York Mets in the late 70s / early 80s. They brought him back as part of their 1986 championship team. Then after coaching the Yankees for a few years, he landed his first managing gig with the Baltimore Orioles. Despite a great start where the Orioles were in first place, they collapsed in July and are now well out of the pennant race. I guess the Orioles thought they had to do something about it so they fired Lee Mazzilli.

I feel bad for him because I remember meeting him many many years ago. He was signing autographs at a local bank during the middle of a weekday. My friend's mom came to our elementary school and pulled me and my friend out of school during the lunch period so we could go to the bank and meet Mazzilli. He signed free booklets that listed every trade the Mets had ever made and then posed for a picture with us. When we got back to school, we told the rest of the kids in our class that we had just met Lee Mazzilli. None of them believed us, they thought we were making it up.

Oh and did I mention that Mazzilli originally grew up in Sheepshead Bay, the same neighborhood I grew up in? So I hope Mazzilli gets back onto his feet and lands another managing job in the near future.